


fleurs séchées

by ocean_of_lilacs



Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: Boys In Love, Cute, Cute Ending, Flowers, Fluff, I got no sleep because of this, M/M, Soft Eugene, What Did I Just Write, hahahah, soft Merriel, tiniest bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-17 15:18:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18967882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ocean_of_lilacs/pseuds/ocean_of_lilacs
Summary: eugene misses merriell and merriell misses eugene





	fleurs séchées

**Author's Note:**

> i literally just wrote this and have been writing it since 10 pm, it is now 4:05 am sosorry for this and any mistakes hahhsh

It was warm in Alabama during the spring months, not overwhelming hot, but not too cold. It was the best time of the year, in Eguene's opinion, although it didn't last long enough. 

It was beginning to get hotter in Mobile, spring coming to an end, and late May dragging in a heavy sort of heat to end the season with a grand finale. It was uncomfortable, but the sticky summer hotness got worse as the year progressed, so it was better to be content in the hazy warmth of late spring instead of being surprised when the air got as thick and dense as honey.

Eugene was hot and tired, lying aimlessly on the field adjacent to his parents house. It was his father's property, even though he was useless at anything related to agriculture. Eguene didn't see the sense in owning anything that wasn't worth the cost, but it was a beautiful field, more meadow-like, really, with long grass and wildflowers speckled across the greenery like flecks of pastel paint. It wasn't taken care of by a gardener like the rest of the house's gardens, and Eugene preferred it like that. Free and wild.

The sky was a soft sort of blue, no clouds in sight and streaked with long strands of pink, and Eguene closed his eyes against the fading sun. Maybe it was the missing clouds that made it seem like the vast blue above could have simply swallow him whole, stolen him away and left nothing but flattened grass behind. 

He had felt lost, since the war. Since Merriell. Everything was displaced in his mind, fragments of emotions he couldn't grasp lost in a sea of yearning for someone who wasn't going to come back. Well, that's what Merriell had made it seem like, anyway.

There was a vague itching on his ankle, and Eguene imagined an ant crawling across his pale skin, and felt strangely separate from his body. The grass around him made a swishing noise in the breeze, rustling as each long blade swayed together. It was hot and bright and Eguene blinked, the blue and pink now only a blur framed by green and purple grass. His eyes were closed again, and peach-coloured light replaced the usual blackness the back of his eyelids. His mind was quiet for once, the war and those he had left behind pleasantly absent from his head. He let his muscles droop completely; _feeling nothing in a perfect way, but everything at the same time-_

The sound of an unhealthy car engine interrupted the gentle rustling of the grass, and Eguene was irrationally annoyed. He blinked open his eyes and sat up, the world distorted for a moment, his head dizzy and eyes kaleidoscopic. 

It was only now that he had finally been able to stop thinking, and his peace had been interrupted by what looked, and sounded, like a very beaten-up Hudson. 

He sighed, feeling sick from the heat and the head rush, and watched as the car somehow managed to reach the end of his parent's front drive without breaking down. The windows were dusty, and Eguene squinted to see who was seated inside, but he was too far away. It definitely didn't look like a car that a proud resident of Mobile would own, that was for sure.

He stood up on wobbly legs and blocked the setting sun from his eyes with his hand, walking closer. His mother and father were away for the weekend, so it was his duty to answer the door, however much he didn't want to.

He stepped over the broken down fence bordering the field, just as a figure stepped out of the driver's seat. Eguene halted and waved awkwardly, hoping the person would notice him before going to the front door. The figure was definitely a man, and luckily he turned towards Eguene, who stopped his slightly frantic waving, embarrassed.

The sun was bright, and Eugene squinted, making out a tuft of curly hair that stopped him in his tracks. Dust billowed around his calves, kicked upwards by the sudden, skidding stop.

Eugene's entire body pooled with heat, and he stood on the path, feeling increasingly more sick. 

"Sledgehammer?"

Eguene stayed put, his insides hot and shaky. The not-so-mysterious figure was walking towards him, becoming more defined with each step. It was like flicking through his memories, sharp cheekbones and big, alluring eyes engraved in stone into the back of his mind: suddenly coming to life, almost false-looking under the pink and blue sky.

"Gene?"

His skin was shimmering under the soft sunlight like liquid gold, his bird-like bones jutting out, a marble statue, pristine and perfect and _not real_.

"I'm back." His voice was the same as Eugene remembered it, drawling and dragged out in a way it didn't need to be, smooth and almost liquid, like syrup. He stood in front of Eguene, short and handsome, and Eugene's insides _ached_.

He wanted to pull him close and card his hands through his curls, but instead he stepped back. Away.

Merriell had left him. Abandoned him on that train, dismissed and left to wake up alone as heartbroken as a teenager sick with false love. It had been near a year since they had last seen each other, and it wasn't right for him to turn up without warning and expect anything less than anger from Eugene.

And Eugene was angry. He wanted to punch the sharp line of Merriell’s jaw and break his fist on the sweep of his cheekbone. He had left Eugene broken. And Eugene wasn't about to forget that.

But, he didn't want to hurt him. Not when he was standing in Eugene's driveway with curls falling across his forehead and big, blue eyes like molten constellations that couldn't meet with Eugene's own set of brown ones. They had both been hurt. And he wanted to tell him everything he was thinking, but his mouth swallowed down on nothing and he couldn't find a way.

"I missed you." He said instead.

Merriel looked up at him, and Eugene could've drowned in his eyes.

"Same goes for you."

Eguene looked down, at Meriell's ratty shoes and his copper skin, and his heart twisted painfully.

"Why are you here, Merriell?" 

Merriell looked back, at his beat-up Hudson, and shrugged. His shoulders jerked with the movement, and he looked even skinnier than he had during the war. 

"You're the closes' thing to home I got," He said, and looked back up at Eugene. "An' I really did miss ya', Genie." 

Eugene swallowed audibly and glanced behind him, at the purple and green heather and the scattered wildflowers.

"I missed you too," He said, his mind a blur, and felt stupid afterwards.

Merriel smirked, leaning forward and rocking back on the balls of his feet.  
"I think we already covered that, boo,"

Eugene smiled, watching the pink and blue sunset reflected in Merriell's eyes. He shook his head, and remembered his anger, his veins suddenly hot.

"I'm still upset with you." His voice was stronger than he had expected it to be, and he sighed inwardly in relief. He let his eyes trace his footprints engraved into the dusty ground.

" 'm sorry." 

Eguene looked up, mainly in surprise but also because he could feel Merriell’s eyes on him, his gaze hot like the sun's blare. He glanced away when Egene caught his eyes, looking uncharacteristically shy.

"I couldn't bring myself to say goodbye, I ain't that great at letting go a' things," 

"Neither am I." Eugene's voice almost cracked, and he cleared his throat.

Merriell looked back at him, wringing his bony wrists together. The silence stretched on.

"I wanna stay with you," He said, almost quietly.

"Here?" Eguene asked, slightly in shock. He hadn't thought of Merriell as a man who was likely to settle down in a large suburban home, and he especially hadn't thought of him having to meet Eugene's parents. Boy, that _would_ have been entertaining to watch.

Luckily, Merriell scoffed.  
"Not here, but maybe somewhere in 'Nawleans," He said, kicking the gravel and dust up into an orange cloud. "If you want." He added hurriedly.

Eugene had done nothing since arriving home from the war, except for worry his mother and bring out his father's lecturing instincts. Living with Merriell was something he had let tickle his imagination, and now it was becoming a reality.

"I want to."

Merriell smiled, big and proper, and Eugene felt his chest contract with something akin to ecstasy. The sky was turning a rosy pink colour, and Eugene hesitantly took Meriell’s smaller hand into his own, and pulled him towards the meadow.

Merriell squeezed his hand, with a smile that made a pool of warmth spread upwards from Eguene's gut, solidifying and climbing up his ribs and towards his heart.

The grass reached past Merriell’s knees, and Eugene pulled him down into the thick of it, until they were both lying shoulder to shoulder under the pink sky.

The grass swayed around them, and Eugene swallowed down a bubble of overwhelming content, as he turned to face Merriell. His eyes were closed, face younger and softer, and Eugene curled his fingers into his dark hair. Merriell smiled, eyes still closed, cheeks as pink as the sky and knees stained green. 

Carefully, Eugene plucked a pink flower from the grass, and wove it into Merriell’s dark curls, before placing another and another.

"What are you doin'?" Merriell blinked his eyes open, and Eugene laughed softly.

"Nothin'." 

Merriel closed his eyes, and Eugene looked down at him, at his rosy cheeks and the flowers in his hair, nestled in the long grass under a pink sky, and, for the first time in nearly a year; he didn't feel so lost.

**Author's Note:**

> a SaaS thanks for reading my insomnia fuelled shit show im probably going to delete this so yeah//also that French story is coming at some point, I just haven't had any inspiration to acruzllyfinish it sorryyyy


End file.
